U.S. Willys M-38A1 in Canadian Service?

[rob love]

C-6 (FN-MAG) did not enter service with Canada until the introduction of the Leopard in 1978. Other than the Leopards, there were no C6 GPMGs until they replaced the C5A1 (C1) in the 90s.

Prior to that (starting in the late 50s) it was the M1919A4 Browning, which in thelate 60 was converted to 7.62mm and given the designation C1 GPMG. In the late 70s, early 80s they had an upgrade which was going to require the A1 suffix on the model number. Because it could have led to confusion with the C1A1 FN rifle, the designation for the upgraded GPMG became C5A1. Note there was never a gun marked simply C5, although the RCMP's FRT tables have an entry for such a gun (they don't show a photo though since the gun never existed) and as well the little plastic user manual calls it the C5 machine gun.

There are a number of upgrades which will be incorporated into a new version of the C6 machine gun, making them the C6A1. Expected in 2017 (Liberals permitting), new guns will be purchased rendering the old ones surplus.

Sorry if I have wandered a little from the Jeeps in question.

The links could well have been from a C1 GPMG with bipod sandbagged onto the hood. They could also be some of the earlier 30-06 links as used on the original M1919A4. As well, there were some of the M31C pedestals in Canadian service, although there would be sings of it being mounted on the back floor of the Jeep.

[Clint Tauber]

The links appear to be from the 1919A4

[Frank v R]

as far as the GPMG mount goes almost all of the 53 A1's were out before they were widely used , my Willys did have the mount, there were M31C mounts in the system to the end of the M-38A1's service life in the late 80's, and they did mount those on both the 52's and 53's, as far as UN vehicles goes a great number were US supplied , friends that did tours in the Golan and Sinai had photos showing US M-151A1, M-37, M-715, M-35, etc,

[Eric B]

The first batch of M381's were bought from the US and shipped to Korea to replace the WW2 era jeeps.

We left the WW2 era vehicles there as well as the non compatible M series vehicles (M37, M211 etc) we bought directly from the US, to what was being built in Canada.

We did ship back the M38A1's and for some unknown reason removed the heaters before shipping.

So if you have a Canadian 1952/53 US built M38A1 then it was used in Korea.

More info can be found in "Canadian Vehicles in Korea" written by Don Dingwall and published by Service Publications.

We did not use the M38's in Korea, those were shipped to Germany.

Thanks
Eric

[Clint Tauber]

Originally Posted by Eric B

The first batch of M381's were bought from the US and shipped to Korea to replace the WW2 era jeeps.

We left the WW2 era vehicles there as well as the non compatible M series vehicles (M37, M211 etc) we bought directly from the US, to what was being built in Canada.

We did ship back the M38A1's and for some unknown reason removed the heaters before shipping.

So if you have a Canadian 1952/53 US built M38A1 then it was used in Korea.

More info can be found in "Canadian Vehicles in Korea" written by Don Dingwall and published by Service Publications.

We did not use the M38's in Korea, those were shipped to Germany.

Thanks
Eric

Cool, that makes sense too, as mine had the distribution box etc. but the previous owner had to buy the heater for it. I wonder why they removed the heaters???

[Clint Tauber]

Just cleaning up the jeep a bit yesterday, and found that it seems to have had Z-arm installed at some point. One nut is still in place and the rest of the holes were plugged with bondo. I thought the '53 jeeps didn't get Z-arms?

[rob love]

The instruction for the installation of the GPMG mount was 21 Mar 1975. The early M38 and M38A1s were disposed of with the introduction of the M151A2 fleet of 1974 production. So it is entirely possible that by the time the M151A2 made it to the unit, it well could have been 1976 before the M38A1 was withdrawn. In that case, it may have had the GPMG mount.

The installation instruction for the GPMG mount mentions that it is applicable to ECC 121101,121201,and 121301 which I believe was the three generations of M38A1 in Canadian service (M38A1, M38A1Cdn2, and M38A1Cdn3 respectively).

The NSNs listed appear to be more from about 1976 or even 1977, but sometimes it took a little time to codify the items.